Goodwill Worker Finds Heavy Purse In Donations, Opens It Up And Her Eyes Go Wide With Discovery

by
Kathleen Shipman 10/6/2017

Shoppers often stumble upon a treasure buried in the bins of their local thrift shop, like a vintage dress or a pair of pricey name brand shoes. But one woman was blown away when she found a black purse that contained something that was out of the ordinary.

Kindell Keyes, assistant manager of a Goodwill store in New York City, was sorting through donations in a trash bag at the Long Island City store. The bag was awfully heavy, so she set it aside to tackle later.

But a little voice in her head told her to stop and go back through it. So she pulled out what was sitting on top, a black purse, which felt bulky instead of empty like it should have been.

As it turns out, two brothers who were clearing out their recently deceased grandmother's home in New York had donated the purse along with their beloved grandmother's other belongings. What the two men didn't know -- and what Kindell discovered -- was that the purse contained $39,000 in cash.

"I thought, wouldn't it be funny if there was money in this purse?"

The money was secured inside envelopes tucked into the handbag. Kindell told reporters that when she opened the first envelope, she thought she was being pranked.

In fact, she began looking around, trying to see who was pulling a fast one over on her. But she was alone at the moment, which meant she had a decision to make.

With an honest heart, Kindell approached her manager with the goldmine she found in the black purse. They dug deeper and found mail submerged in the trash bag of donations. It was time to take action.

Goodwill retail director Maria Torres drove to the address on the mail and when she arrived, she was told that the homeowner had passed away recently. But, the neighbors provided Maria with contact information for the two grandsons who lived across the country in California.

Needless to say, they were stunned when they found out they had inadvertently donated a purse full of cash. The brothers couldn't believe their grandmother's nest egg had been recovered either.

The men were exceptionally grateful that Kindell was honest and a good Samaritan who turned the cash over to her boss. One reported to DNAInfo:

"It's just so good to know that there's people like Kindell in the world. It's remarkable."

Goodwill rewarded Kindell for her nobility, too. The company gave her a $3,900 bonus, a 10th of the cash she uncovered in the trash bag.

Company officials wanted to recognize her for upholding Goodwill's values. Kindell told DNAInfo she never once thought of keeping the cash for herself and had never anticipated receiving a reward or any recognition for what she had done.

"The money didn't belong to me. I believe in karma. You do good, good things happen to you."

The cash had been accumulated in stacks of $1 and $5 bills found in the first couple of envelopes, then the denominations grew bigger in subsequent envelopes. The two men said their grandmother grew up during the Depression and that's likely why she had hung on to that much cash.

Grandson Bryan said his grandmother was just two weeks shy of turning 102-years-old when she passed away and had taken to hiding things around the house. That's likely why the men missed the stack of cash while cleaning out her Queens home.